Only two countries out of a total of 22 candidates have managed to complete the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) Validation process.

The EITI was announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, September 2002 by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The idea was to combat the ‘resource curse’ that many developing countries suffer from. The theory behind the voluntary initiative was to set a global standard for companies to publish what they pay and for governments to disclose what they receive for the extraction of oil, gas and metals. All this data would be subsequently checked by an independent auditor in accordance with international standards and then published in a publicly accessible and comprehensible report.

Only Liberia and Azerbaijan met the deadline and were subsequently judged compliant by the EITI Board. While some countries have completed draft reports, others, such as Peru, are further behind. Under EITI’s rules, countries that fail to meet the deadline could be dropped from the scheme with the option to reapply for candidate status.

Chair of the EITI Board Peter Eigen said that the members of the EITI Board “will meet in Berlin on 15-16 April to review progress with Validation. Under the rules of the EITI, countries can in some circumstances seek extensions and be given limited additional time to complete the Validation process. Such requests will also be considered by the Board during its April meeting in Berlin.”